Incredible ImpACT+ team receive national recognition for supporting respiratory patients
A UHDB respiratory service that has provided vital support to patients throughout Covid-19 has received national recognition.
ImpACT+ (Improving Adult Respiratory Care Together) has helped patients with lung conditions by bringing different services together to offer comprehensive support to patients throughout all points in their care pathway, both at hospital and in their own homes.
The innovative service has transformed specialist community respiratory services for local people with Chronic Respiratory Disease since it started in 2018 and has arguably never had a more important role supporting these patients than it has throughout the pandemic.
As Covid-19 restrictions have come into place, the ImpACT+ team have developed virtual wards for patients, while the service’s telephone helpline ‘Lung Line’, which is open seven days a week, has provided invaluable support to patients in their own homes.
Bringing together respiratory services in this way has also helped to “keep the patient at the centre” of everything – a point that was recognised by the HSJ Value Award panel, who today named ImpACT+ as its ‘Respiratory Care Initiative of the Year’.
Dr Deepak Subramanian, ImpACT+ Clinical Lead, said: “We’ve had a really challenging few months because of Covid-19 but the team have really stuck together to provide an outstanding service to our patients. We’ve had to repeatedly change the way we work, by running virtual wards and supporting patients with respiratory conditions at home, during what must have been a very scary time for them.
“With this in mind, it is absolutely critical that we’ve been able to be there in some capacity for these patients and provide them with some reassurance. I’m so proud of everyone in the team for being so adaptable and really going that extra mile. It’s fantastic to have received this recognition but most of all; we’re just so pleased to have received such positive feedback from our patients, who have really valued this service.”
ImpACT+ is a multi-disciplinary team made up of respiratory consultants, specialist nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists who offer community support and on-going care and treatment to respiratory patients in the South Derbyshire area.
In their notes, the judges wrote: “This is an excellent service with a very enthusiastic and engaging team involved. The change brought together several services into one with a single point of referral, clearly keeping the patient at the centre, and with a strong evidence base to the service change.
“The project had clear aims to reduce variation of treatment by clinicians, and for patients to see one member of staff rather than several. The Lung Line is a great example of the way patients are supported by a holistic model of care, which also includes areas outside the traditional medical model, such as social prescribing.”
UHDB’s Workforce Transformation and Occupational Health and Wellbeing teams were also shortlisted for the ‘People and Organisational Development Initiative of the Year’ award for their work on our ‘Working for Longer Project’.
This invaluable work focused on the support provided to colleagues at UHDB, with the teams working together to provide guidance and training on a number of subjects, including pensions awareness, as well as delivering a bespoke conference for managers, designed to make a real difference to our peoples’ experience at work.
Alastair McLellan, Editor of the HSJ, offered his congratulations to the teams on their success, adding: “The entrants this year have been of incredible calibre, and each of the winners at the HSJ Value Awards 2020 have been chosen based on their outstanding commitment to delivering value and efficiency across their organisation.”